A. Field of Invention
This invention pertains to the art of methods and apparatuses regarding to occupant seating arrangements within a vehicle.
B. Description of the Related Art
In the automotive industry, the design of the passenger area or cabin is of great importance. Specifically, a great amount of time and effort goes into maximizing the amount of usable space within the vehicle cabin. Engineers and designers constantly struggle with how to create additional space within the interior. This task becomes even more difficult when dealing with truck-based vehicles, as this type of vehicle does not offer a large amount of interior space.
One modern development of truck-based automobiles is the rear row of seats that typically abut the rear wall or panel of the cabin interior. These seats take a relatively large amount of storage space. Most truck users rarely require the space for passengers and would like to use the space for storage when not occupied by a passenger.
Removing the rear seating assembly out of the truck is one way to maximize the interior storage space. This process tends to be time consuming and labor intensive. Another known solution is to use folding seats, where either the seat back rotates to meet the seat base or vice versa. There are many different ways to configure the way in which the rear seats fold while minimizing the space required to store the folded rear seats. However, folding seats require some form of support to the bottom portion of the seat. This bottom support requires that additional interior space be used that could otherwise be used for storage.
Therefore, what is needed is a rear seat assembly that is stored in a folded position and that requires no floor based support. This invention meets this need and provides for the interior floor to be flat with no assemblies or apparatuses disrupting the floor space.